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August 16, 2011

Prospect Park Names Technology Pioneer and Former VeriSign Chairman and CEO Stratton Sclavos as Partner and Member of Executive Team in Company’s Online Television Network Venture

by Sam Savage

LOS ANGELES and NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Radar Partners' Stratton Sclavos is joining the new television online network formed by Jeff Kwatinetz and Rich Frank's Prospect Park, the management, media and production company that recently forged a multi-year, multi-platform licensing agreement with Disney/ABC Domestic Television Group to continue production of "All My Children" and "One Life to Live" after the ABC run ends. Sclavos was formerly Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of VeriSign Inc. where he started as one of its first employees in 1995 and led the company as it grew into an international corporation with over 4,000 professionals and $1.6 billion in revenues. Under his leadership, VeriSign became a Fortune 1000 and S&P 500 company listed on the NASDAQ market. In his new role as a partner, executive and board member, Sclavos will advise the network on technology, infrastructure and overall content delivery. Azure Capital's Mike Kwatinetz, who was also named to the network's board, will provide the company with comprehensive strategic guidance.

"With a best in class team, proprietary programming and an opportunity to reshape the television landscape, I could not be more excited to be joining Jeff and Rich in their new venture," said Sclavos who will also continue with his responsibilities at Radar Partners. "I believe that we have the breakthrough formula for delivering the first online channel for high quality, first-run, long form content."

"Stratton has a deep understanding of the complicated opportunities and challenges facing content companies in this digital age. He shares with us a common commitment and vision to not only deliver audiences great content anytime and anywhere, but to truly transform the entertainment landscape using the ease of technology to tell and deliver stories to people around the world," said Jeff Kwatinetz and Rich Frank.

Through its new online network, Prospect Park will produce and deliver the two long-running soap operas as well as other episodic programming to consumers via online formats and additional emerging platforms including internet enabled television sets.

During Sclavos' time at VeriSign, the company built and operated a global infrastructure supporting Internet addressing, e-commerce and telecommunications services. On a daily basis VeriSign systems enabled over 25 billion interactions for consumers and businesses and the company's infrastructure delivered a new standard for scalability and quality performing at 100% availability for over a decade.

In November 2007, Sclavos retired from VeriSign and joined Radar Partners, a private investment firm with interests in public and private equity, venture capital, natural resources and real estate. He also holds an ownership stake in Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVSE), the parent company of the San Jose Sharks professional hockey team. SVSE is a diversified corporation with ownership interests in professional and minor league hockey and other entertainment assets. He has also been privileged to serve on several Presidential advisory committees including the NSTAC and PCAST. Sclavos currently sits on the boards of Salesforce.com and Juniper Networks and also acts as a Senior Advisor to the Director of National Intelligence.

New Board Member Mike Kwatinetz said, "I have been fortunate enough to have been involved with some of the biggest disruptive companies of the past two decades. I believe Prospect Park's new online venture is going to be added to the list as its combination of team, properties and strategy changes the landscape for television and the web."

Mike Kwatinetz is a founding General Partner with Azure Capital Partners, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm with over $650 million under management, where he specializes in software, media and related web properties. His current board memberships are BlogHer, Cooking.com, Education.com, Knowledge Adventure, Medsphere, Rooftop Comedy, and Open Road, the first venture-backed eBook publisher led by the former CEO of Harper Collins. He also served on the boards of The Firm, Woodbury Computer Associates (acquired by JWP), Bill Me Later (acquired by eBay in largest VC tech outcome in 2008), TopTier (acquired by SAP in largest VC-backed software outcome in 2001), TripIt (acquired by Concur), and Wildseed (acquired by AOL). Other representative investments include VMware (acquired by EMC), the largest software company created in the past 12 years and the largest venture-backed outcome in 2003. Prior to Azure, Mike Kwatinetz was one of the country's highest ranked analysts and served as Group Head of Technology Research, a Managing Director and the senior software and hardware analyst at several major investment banks, including Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank Securities, and PaineWebber.

Prospect Park is a media and production company founded in 2009 by entertainment industry veterans Jeffrey Kwatinetz and former Disney Studios head Rich Frank. Along with successful film and music divisions, the company's television group has numerous shows in development and breakout network hits airing including "Royal Pains" and "Wilfred."